He is on the ice every game, Andrew Cogliano reporting to work as religiously and predictably as the puck does.

There are others in the NHL who, like the Ducks forward, also show up to perform each night. But who wants to read a story about the Zamboni driver?

So it’s easy to take Cogliano for granted, a player with a consecutive-games streak now at 525, a player with such consistency and constancy that he can, shift after shift after shift, just blend in, especially in a sport where traffic is used to create obscurity.

Today, however, we’re going to single out Cogliano, draw attention to him in an appreciation of someone who deserves praise for his performance and his approach, for an attitude so refreshing that it’s worth every dollar Cogliano didn’t need to stay here.

He could have cashed in, understand, free agency beckoning this summer when, having just turned 27, he would have been coming off his finest NHL season.

Most professional athletes look forward to free agency in a manner similar to the way most believers look forward to heaven. Only with slightly higher expectations.

It’s about the money, as we all know, the average athlete – and here we’re not blaming them, just stating the fact – absolutely committed to finding their best possible place of employment. Unless someone else offers them a dime more.

“Sometimes, that doesn’t always work out,” Cogliano said. “I’d rather be comfortable. If that means giving up money, I’ll do that.”

And so, he did, putting his mouth where his money wasn’t. In December, the Ducks let it be known they were interested in signing Cogliano to an extension. Not even a month later, the deal was done.

Four years, $12 million. Cogliano called that total “healthy money.” We’d call it winning the lottery. He is now signed through the end of the 2017-18 season and, let’s all be honest here, who wouldn’t take that sort of job security right now?

But there’s little doubt Cogliano would have benefited from being in the open market, a winger whose level of play the past two seasons has proved he’s more than just a swift skater.

Cogliano spends most nights matched against the other team’s top line and killing penalties – two rather important assignments in a league where the games tighten up as the seasons shorten up.

He also will finish this year with a career high in goals.

The Ducks, obviously, have noticed Cogliano’s improvement. But know who else must have noticed? The rest of the NHL.

Believe it, everything was converging nicely for this potential free agent … until Cogliano killed that potential by taking himself off the market before he even got there.

“I think jumping around to different teams unsettles you,” he said. “I’ve worked hard over the last three years to stabilize myself. Why would I want to go somewhere else and start over again?”

Why? Because of the money. Isn’t that the driving force? Always? Isn’t the idea to maximize your earnings? Isn’t it criminal not to do so?

Cogliano spent two seasons at the University of Michigan, which does have a business school, one that bears the name of Stephen M. Ross, who owns the Miami Dolphins and is worth nearly $5 billion.

Cogliano should know big business. Alas, he majored in kinesiology.

“At the end of the day, it’s up to player,” Cogliano said when asked if anyone, particularly his agent, tried to convince him to play out is contract. “The player is the one who has to be in the situation. I just didn’t feel like there was any place else I wanted to play.”

If that sounds too good to be true, you should have heard Cogliano go on about the “family aspect” of playing for the Ducks, the healthy relationship he has developed with Coach Bruce Boudreau and the passion of the team’s fans.

He sounded as much like a cheerleader as he did a player and, come to think of it, has anyone ever seen Cogliano and Wild Wing in the same room at the same time?

And then, he offered this:

“You know, Bob (Murray, Ducks general manager) traded for me. I feel like he believed in me to come here and turn my game around. I owe something to this organization.”

So he signed a deal that will pay him $2.7 million in 2014-15 and escalate with the same raise each of the next three seasons – $200,000, which is a lot for most of us but, for the professional athlete, is as modest as a mouse.

At the time Cogliano signed, Murray called him “a heart-and-soul type player” and one media outlet in Edmonton reported the news under the headline “Trading Andrew Cogliano was a kick in the gut for Oilers.”

Back in the old days, back when such things were cherished, Cogliano would have been anointed here with a nickname like “Everyday Andrew.” But now, he’s just “Cogs.”

We can’t give him something as permanent as a nickname. But we can give him the praise he has earned, earned over and over and over, game after game after game.

Jeff Miller has been a sports columnist since 1998, having previously written for the Palm Beach Post, South Florida Sun-Sentinel and Miami Herald. He began at the Register in 1995 as beat writer for the Angels.

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